It is a little overblown to suggest that when the Israeli Navy sends two corvettes across the Suez Canal, Iran is in greater danger of being attacked, but today that is how the news reports the story. Obviously Iran and Israel won't be having afternoon tea anytime soon, but is every little move by either Navy a form of gunboat diplomacy? The answer is, absolutely.
When I first read the story of the Israeli Dolphin class submarine crossing the Suez last June, I thought to myself "Israel is having a naval exercise off Eilat in the Red Sea." Eilat is a small port city in the 10 km strip of the Red Sea between Egypt and Jordan. While we don't know if the submarine returned, we do know the Israeli corvette Hanit crossed with the submarine as escort, and crossed back after the exercise.
Today, the Hanit and another Israeli Sa'ar 5 corvette, the Eilat, crossed the Suez Canal again, reportedly under escort of the Egyptian Navy according to what everyone in the media is calling an Arab source. Last time we had the media talking about mysterious Arab sources in the Red Sea area, Israel supposedly sank an Iranian arms ship heading to the Sudan.
It is almost absurd to suggest that two Israeli corvettes, even if supported by a submarine, is somehow the sign a naval attack force is soon to conduct a military operation off the coast of Iran, and yet in every news story on this Suez Canal crossing, that is the story. But is that the real story?
Here is what we do know. Israel and Egypt appear to have a pretty good relationship, and if Israel becomes able to move naval forces back and forth through the Suez Canal as a routine, it will get much more difficult for the Iranians to know if the Israeli Navy ever does move ships their way.
We also know Eritrea is the big problem spot in the Red Sea, an area that includes Sudan as the little brother of the problem. Human Rights Watch recently labeled Eritrea a "giant prison." When the Iranians boasted in the media they were sending their naval forces to fight Somali pirates, instead of going to the actual area where Somali pirates have conducted attacks, Iran simply moved the 6 ship squadron to Assab, Eritrea. Recently replacing that squadron with two ships, one might ask what the Iranian Navy with ships that have almost no endurance are doing? The only legitimate answer is to to say Iran is acting as a Coast Guard around Assab, Eritrea - the Iranians only logistics port in the region.
The Iranians have a purpose for deploying naval vessels to the Red Sea, and it isn't to fight Somali pirates with their little corvettes that lack endurance. Am I seriously supposed to believe the Iranians are sending their little corvettes to operate in an area they have no logistics, off the coast of Somalia, to patrol during the monsoon season? That is almost as believable as Israel sending a pair of corvettes to the Persian Gulf to fire their short range missiles at nuclear facilities!
With this state level military activity by Iran in Eritrea, I think the questionable reporting of previously reported Iranian activity with Eritrea is starting to look a lot more credible.
I give the Israeli's a lot of credit. They have the entire world media believing every single military move is the next step in the bombing of Tehran. If the whole world's media is jumping to that conclusion, it makes you wonder what the level of concern in Tehran might be. Let it never be said gunboat diplomacy is dead in the 21st century, because all it takes for gunboat diplomacy to work in the information frenzy world of the 21st century is for 2 corvettes to cross a canal just off the countries own coast.
In my opinion, that is some serious psychological warfare.
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